772 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
5.  Shortness  of  labour  has  affected  work  con- 
siderably on  some  estates. 
_ 6 and  7.  I believe  that  the  chief  reason  of  fall 
in  average  prices  is  greater  comiietition,  caused  by 
increased  supply.  This  has  been  demonstrated  in 
some  markets,  where  the  price  of  line  broken  pe- 
koes has  gone  down  to  that  of  pekoe.  D.  K. 
— ♦ 
PRUNING,  PLUCKING  AND  PRE- 
PARATION OF  TEA  : 
REVIEW  OF  LETTERS  XXXVII  TO 
XLIV, 
In  the  batch  of  letters  on  the  above  subject 
commencing  from  No.  37,  “L"  from  Dikoya, 
while  claiming  that  the  i)liicking  in  his  district  is 
medium,  not  coarse,  labour  being  plentiful, 
ventures  on  the  statement  that  all  teas  after 
a certain  age  lose  flavour,  and  that  unless  young 
clearings  maintain  the  reputation  of  the  island, 
the  old  prestige  cannot  be  sustained  except  in 
very  “stand-out  estates.”  If  tliiscontention,  which 
move  than  one  writer  lias  put  forth,  be  well 
founded— and  it  is  explained  by  the  absence  of 
any  wintering,  without  which  the  bush  can 
obtain  no  rest  from  the  unnatural  treatment 
involved  in  continual  plucking,  varied  by  more 
or  less  severe  pruning — the  outlook  for  the  tea 
enterprise  would  be  very  serious.  But  the  ap- 
prehension of  steady  deterioration  of  our  tea, 
year  by  year,  is  not  justified  by  facts.  There 
are  teas,  not  of  one  or  two  estates,  but  of 
numbers,  which  have  maintained  their  position 
for  many  years,  whose  prices  have  cither  fallen 
off  but  slightly  in  correspondence  with  over-pro- 
duction, or  been  maintained  and  advanceu  in 
the  face  of  diminished  competition.  It,  how- 
ever, the  fear  be  well-founded,  that  there  must 
be  general  deterioration,  as  the  age  of  the  bushes 
increases,  then  the  question  of  manuring 
assumes  double  importance.  Primarily,  the  ob- 
ject of  applying  manurial  substances  to  the  soil, 
is  to  maintain  or  increase  the  yield  ; but  if  tea 
are  we  not  right  in  saying,  unlike  other  vege- 
table products? — loses  its  flavour,  too,  in  the 
course  of  time,  surely  the  Agricultural  Chemist 
should  at  once  be  applied  to,  to  see  if  the 
decadence  cannot  be  arrested  and  the  flavour 
maintained  or  renewed.  “ B”  from  Bandarawela, 
on  the  contrary,  feels  no  doubt  that  coarse 
plucking,  in  pursuance  of  the  craze  for  a large 
yield  per  acre,  has  contributed  to  the  fall  in 
prices  ; and  “ Truth”  from  Matale  leans  to  the 
same  view,  wlien  he  says  that  growers  have 
found  it  pays  them  better  to  make  ordinary 
teas  than  to  produce  the  finest  teas  for  which 
the  prices  are  not  attractive,  while  “ 1878”  from 
Teldeniya  insists  not  only  that  there  is  much 
finer  plucking  than  ever  before,  but  that  the  teas 
turned  out  are  also  much  better,  as  a result 
of  the  larger  experience  in  all  branches 
of  the  industry  which  every  one  has  from 
the  cooly  upwards.  The  main  cause  of 
the  falling-off  in  price,  in  the  opinion  of  this 
correspondent,  one  neerl  not  be  str  prised  to  learn, 
is  over-production.  He  admits,  however,  that 
severe  pruning  spoils  the  quality,  while  adding 
to  the  yiehl,  but  the  factory  appliances  he  con- 
siders much  better  than  before,  and  the  experi- 
ence of  them  thegreatci.  He  would  assign  no  blame 
there,  but  he  strongly  condemns  manuring,  as 
tending  to  lower  prices  by  increasing  the  sup- 
[May  I,  1897. 
ply  and  the  need  for  more  labour.  But,  surely, 
the  advantage  of  manuring  is  not  merely  to  in- 
crease the  yield.  The  health,  and  even  the  very 
life,  of  the  bush,  must  depend  in  many  j)laces 
on  the  renewal  of  the  soil ; and  as  for  labour, 
would  it  not  require  more  to  open  up  and  main- 
tain new  places  if  the  old  fail  to  maintain  the 
upply  and  to  respond  to  the  demand  ? But  be- 
yond that,  “Truth”  is  not  singular  in  his  be- 
lief that  as  manuring  improves  the  leaf,  it  im- 
proves the  quality  of  the  tea  as  well  ; and  “ L” 
shares  that  view  ; while  “ B”  cannot  see  that  it 
damages  the  quality. 
“ L”  holds  that  very  severe  pruning  is  seldom 
resorted  to,  and  when  it  becomes  necessary'  the 
result  is  wholesome  ; “ B”  shares  this  view  to  a 
great  extent  ; and,  while  admitting  that  thin 
liquor  follows  pruning,  whether  medium  or 
severe,  for  some  months,  has  observed  that  the 
effect  of  light  pruning  is  an  abnormal  quantity 
of  bangy  leaf.  “ Truth  ” acquits  severe  pruning 
of  responsibility  for  bad  prices,  and  “ 1878,” 
like  most  planters,  admits  that  the  poor  quality 
is  only  a temporary  result.  We  have  seen  that 
the  last-mentioned  has  no  fault  to  find  with 
tlie  factory  ; “ L ” denies  less  care  in  the 
factory,  and  claims  that  it  is  greater  ; “ B ” is 
of  much  the  same  opinion,  provided  the  accom- 
modation and  machinery  are  adequate  to  the 
wants  of  the  estate  ; and  “ Truth  “ follows  to 
the  same  effect,  while  insisting  that  the  best 
machinery  and  the  closest  attention  cannot  pro- 
duce good  tea  from  indifferent  leaf.  Bad  leaf 
may  be  due  to  weak  bushes,  but  it  is  often 
explained  by  shortness  of  labour,  which  prevents 
“ Truth”  from  asking  for  manure  ; for,  as  it  is, 
he  cannot  get  round  the  estate  even  with  the 
flush. 
“Tramway”  from  Maskeliya  denies  coarser 
plucking,  or  carelessness  either  in  the  field  or  the 
factory  : he  acquits  manuring  of  responsibility  for 
the  fall  in  prices,  where  there  is  labour  enough  to 
meet  the  rush  of  leaf  ; severe  pruning,  down  to  a 
foot  or  so,  he  considers  necessary  only  once  in  8 or 
9 years,  and  its  evil  effects  on  quality  are 
transient  ; but  he  lays  all  the  blame  on  over* 
production.  Reduce  the  output,  he  says,  to  50 
per  cent,  and  the  prices  will  go  up.  It  would 
seem  to  follow  that,  in  his  view,  exten.sion  alone 
explains  the  excessive  supplies  he  deplores.  This 
view  is  not  shared  by  “ T.  Koko,”  from  the 
North  of  Kandy,  who  declares  that  coarse  pluck- 
ing, especially  in  the  lowcountry,  is  too  pal- 
pable a cause  of  low  prices  to  be  disputed  ; and 
if  it  pays  it  is  not  likely  to  be  abandoned.  Its 
remuneration  is  precisely  the  point  about  which 
practical  men  differ — the  non  placets  asserting 
that  the  extra  cost  of  labour,  the  withdrawal  of 
labour  from  cultivation,  wear  and  tear  of  machi* 
nery,  cost  of  packing  and  transport,  and  the 
prospect  of  higher  prices  foi  better  tea  and 
smaller  supplies,  do  not  enter  fully  into  the 
calculation.  Manuring  and  severe  pruning  (ex- 
cept temporarily)  are  held  free  from  blame;  but 
half-trained  and  badly-trained  tea-makers  are 
held  accountable  for  bad  tea ; while  bad  jfit, 
insufficient  withering  space,  too  rapid  firing,  un- 
even withering  from  mixture  of  jAts  and  heated 
factories  contribute  to  the  fall.  The  responsi- 
bility  of  the  packet  trade  for  the  fall  is  not 
ea.sy  to  understand.  Is  its  immediate  effect  not 
to  promote  consumption  ? And  an  enhanced  de- 
mand should  aid  prices  ; but  that  the  Chemist 
should  find  out  what  gives  pungency  and  flavour 
to  the  tea,  is  n suggestion  which  has  our  ap- 
